As an avid listener of the BS Podcast, Bill Simmons has been calling for an NBA playoff reform for years. This potential change that’s linked to in the ESPN tweet above has been thrown around for a couple of years now. The idea is that the NBA would eliminate Conference seedings and determine playoff spots with just the 16 best teams. If we’re being honest I don’t hate the move. Read more

That amount of turnover in player personnel would be significant if it were a full offseason’s worth of changes, but it’s actually just what the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to do yesterday in about an hour total prior to the NBA’s trade deadline. It’s kind of ridiculous how one team could steal the deadline so dramatically, but they did, and obviously it was LeBron’s team that was behind it all.

Here’s a quick recap of the deals themselves and the implications that come along with them. In brackets are the times that the deals were first announced by Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.

The first WojBomb to drop. The key player (Thomas) the Cavs received in the Kyrie Irving deal is gone after suiting up for just 15 games in a Cavs uniform. Thomas never looked like himself in Cleveland, and he appeared to be one of the main sources behind the infighting with this team.

Channing Frye has had his moments in recent years as a solid off the bench shooter, but he is 34 and not very relevant anymore. Both Thomas and Frye are unrestricted free agents come seasons end.

The Cavs get younger and more athletic in picking up Clarkson and Nance. Both attributes that they hope will help improve their awful, 29th ranked defensive rating.

From a Lakers perspective, this can really be boiled down to them dealing Nance and Clarkson for a 1st round pick and cap space to gun for a superstar(s) in free agency. This is because I can’t see a reason why they’d be interested in re-signing either of Thomas or Frye to an extended deal.

By far the biggest deal of the day. At this point players were being thrown around like ping pong balls at a Friday night beer pong tournament. One of these guys is currently injured and has been basically all season (Shumpert), two will likely – or are – going to being waived (Rose and Johnson) and Jae Crowder simply has a new home. As for the Cavs, they get a veteran point guard in Hill that should help defensively and he is set to make $18 million through 2019-20 (ouch). They also get probably the most impactful player in the trade (not saying much) in the form of Rodney Hood. Hood’s pretty fragile when it comes to injuries, but I guess he can add a decent scoring punch from the wing,. He’ll probably start too.

This to me seems like nothing more than an act of goodwill towards Wade from the Cavs front office. Their return was almost non-existent, but they essentially clear a roster spot, clear some cap-space and get a little younger in the process while Wade likely gets to sail off into the sunset with the team he’s built up a Hall of Fame worthy resume with. Definitely the feel good deal of the deadline.

Verdict: The Cavs improved but the American media is still infuriating

Why do we constantly give these talking heads the time of day? They think that in a snap the Cavs are the team to beat again? They can’t be serious. It appears that their main arguments are that “they brought in guys that are comfortable in their roles” and “they got rid of the drama in the locker room”. I’d like to see some results on the court before we get ahead of ourselves. Again, they’re role players, not impact stars. This is not in the same universe as a Kevin Love acquisition. Who’s to know right now what happens with this team?

“But it’s LeBron James’ team, they’re always a threat”. Well I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s been there all year, they haven’t played good basketball and are 6.5 and 7.5 games back of the Raptors and Celtics. Certainly not his fault, but it is a reality. So why are they being vaulted to the top automatically? I honestly don’t have an answer. Sure, I’ll admit that by the looks of things they have improved their roster. But “best in the east”, “100% better” and “Eastern Conference favourites again” is excessive. Never would I have thought guys like Hill, Hood, Nance Jr. and Clarkson could shift the landscape of the NBA. I had to contain my laughter typing that.

I’m a salty Raptors fan right now, I hate how they’re constantly disrespected. Shannon Sharpe actually called them the “baby dinosaurs”. I also hate the Celtics, but they’re still better than the Cavs too. Bottomline, if you’re a Cavs fan just chill out, or get a George Hill jersey so I can laugh at you, because the Raptors are still making the finals with or without Bruno Caboclo. Book it.

The Blake Griffin trade kicked off this Trade Deadline season with a bang. While the insiders have been saying that Griffin trade talks have been swirling for weeks now, the move was an absolute shock to most hoops fans. The Clippers had been rumoured to start selling off their assets, but almost nobody expected LA to move the face of their franchise not even a full season after signing him to a five-year, $173 million contract. Even though the Pistons and Clippers are both in ninth place of their respective conferences, this trade is a franchise defining move for two teams going in different directions. Read more

In light of the month long slog that seems to be a never-ending blog entry on “How to fix the *blank* All-Star Game/Pro Bowl”, I’ve decided fix the All-Star Game/ Pro Bowl. My suggestion is to dissolve the NHL and NBA All-Star games and NFL Pro Bowl to create one big event that would pit the best of each league against eachother. Each team would have to play each other in a mini-tournament where no team would be allowed to play their own sport. We’re talking Giannis Antetokounmpo on skates, Von Miller running the triangle and Sidney Crosby and PK Subban connecting on the flea flicker. It would be pure chaos and I for one wouldn’t miss a second. Here’s what those matchups would look like:

NFL v NBA in hockey

I googled any combination of “NFL players”, “football players”, “NBA players”, “basketball players”, “Lebron” and “playing hockey and these were the only videos that I could pull up. If none of these football players or basketball players have any skating experience whatsover (which is a fair assumption), then their skating abilities will range somewhere between Bambi on ice

and Luis Mendoza from Mighty Ducks 2.

Either way it would truly be a spectacle to see Joel Embiid lace ’em up opposite of Marshawn Lynch. I would just hope that we don’t immediately regret giving weapons in the form of hockey sticks and skate blades to Aqib Talib and Richie Incognito.

NBA v NHL in football

Here’s your quarterback:

And here are your star receivers:

On the other side of the gridiron, those crazy hockey players from Saskatoon might forget that real football is played with four downs and no “rouges”. The hockey players only have a shot if they keep the ball away from Lebron and co. with well-placed punts and running out the clock, with all of their trick plays panning out.

NHL v NFL in basketball

Here’s a taste of what you’re getting from the NFL on the court:

And here’s what the NHL brings to the table:

The NHL would be creamed to be sure. Their vanilla-bland personalities and presence of Brad Marchand could make them a bizzaro parallel to the mid-90’s villainous Duke teams with one hundredth of the basketball acumen. I for one would love to see Phil the thrill throw down the patented “hot dog stand windmill slam” under the bright lights of a full basketball stadium.

As fun as this hypothetical sports battle would be, I wouldn’t go anywhere near it if I were the NHL. We’re talking a probable and embarrassing full sweep and possible back-to-back shutouts in both sports. In their defense, hockey (and skating skating in general) is such a niche athletic ability to most non-Canadian North Americans, the NHL players would dominate their non-hockey players in their own sport more than NBA or NFL players would.

Wow. What a trip down memory lane that list is for a Raptors fan. A total mish-mash of characters that just spews ineptitude and mediocrity. You may be wondering why I decided to remind you of these players that quite frankly are very forgettable (or memorable for the wrong reasons). Well you see, each of these players has one thing in common: they have each started a regular season opening game at Small Forward for the Toronto Raptors. Read more